Page 22 - July 2006 • Southern California Gaming Guide

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
Jean Scott, The Frugal GamblerTM
Page 22
July 2006
Things I’ve Heard: “Why I Don’t Join Players Clubs”
Iby Jean Scott
cannot tell you how many times I’ve sat next to someone in a casino playing video poker who did not have a players club card in the machine. If this person seems friendly, I often strike up a conversation and ask why he or she isn’t using a card. Below I’ve listed the most
frequent replies to this question, and my typical responses.
I don’t want the casino to know who I am or have my address.
e best thing you can do for yourself as a savvy casino player is to give the casino your name and address. Once you’re in the system, casino marketing departments will send you special o ers, promotions, invitations, and coupons in the mail. ere’s no such thing as junk mail from a casino. Open it all and read it, and you’ll almost always nd some item of interest or some bene t that will put money in your pocket.
I don’t want the casino to know how much I win or lose.
Actually, you do want the casino to know how much you win or lose. More importantly, you want the casino to know how much money you’re putting through its machines. is is how your level of comps and cashback is determined.
I’m afraid the casinos will give the information to the IRS.
e casino gives information to the IRS only when you win a slot jackpot of $1,200 or more, and you will get that W-2G with or without the players club card inserted. Besides, you might be glad you can get an end-of-the-year win/loss record from your players club if the IRS taps you for some supplementary proof for the gambling gures on your tax return.
Play smart; play with a players club card.
If you want to learn more about getting comps and how to get more of them, you might want to read two books by Jean Scott: The Frugal Gambler and More Frugal Gambling. Go to her Web site (www.FrugalGambler.biz) for other products, including Tax Help for the Frugal Gambler by Jean Scott and Marissa Chien, E.A.
Players club? What’s a players club?
ese days, almost all casinos have players clubs that reward comps and/or cashback for gambling action. We know that we can make $5–$20 an hour in bene ts—and much more at the higher play levels—
by exerting no more e ort than sliding our card into the card reader on our machine.
It takes too much time and bother and I want to get right down to gambling.
It takes as little as one minute to sign up at the players club booth—usually no more than 10 minutes even if there’s a long line. And it takes seconds to pull the card from a wallet and insert it into the card reader. For less time than it takes to read this column, you can set yourself up for a lifetime of bene ts. e rewards far outweigh the e ort required.
I thought it cost money to sign up.
Nope. Joining any players club is free (my favorite word in the whole wide world!). It’s not like a credit card: you don’t pay it—it pays you!
The comps don’t really add up to much.
Which would you rather do: Wait in a long bu et line and pay cold hard cash, or stroll to the front of the line and hand the cashier a bu et comp? My husband and I haven’t paid for a casino meal or room in the past twenty years, and we have enough value stored in our comp banks to last another lifetime.
I thought I was going to play only for a few minutes.
You never know how long you’ll end up playing at one machine. You might go on a nice winning streak and wind up playing for three hours; the players club bene ts are icing on the cake. e worst is if you play for three hours, but in the end you lose all your money: now you have nothing—no money, no comps, no cashback to show for all your action, because you didn’t have the card in the reader.
I have a card, but I left it in my hotel room (or at home).
All you have to do is go to the players club booth and ask for a duplicate. You might have to wait a few minutes in line, but those few minutes will pay o handsomely.
I won’t get as many jackpots if I have a players club card in the machine.
e slot machine payout and the players club details are not only on two di erent computer systems, they’re also independent of one another. ere’s no all-knowing “Slot Machine God” who sees you put in a players club card, then pushes some button that will keep you from hitting any jackpots. You’ll do the same on the machine with or without the players club card. With it, you get all the bene ts you’re entitled to for playing. Without it, you get doodly-squat.